A yellow bucket left in the road

A yellow bucket left in the road, as if a

warden intended to preserve a parking space.

Not the yellow of dandelions, or daisies,

of daffodils, or buttercups. Not the

yellow, either, of some pale almost green

leaves on various bushes, related but not

alike. Not the colour of the large torch in the

hall, more like the Pak-n-Save plastic bag, though

without the bag’s flexibility, a bucket that

will survive innumerable droppings and

throwings, and will only succumb to

continual weathering, which will bring

cracks, and an eventual all-round

deterioration, at which point the

bucket will head for the tip via the

Envirowaste bin. In the meantime, the

daisies, and daffodils, and dandelions, and

buttercups will have long gone, being

much more environmentally-friendly,

biodegradable, and much more short-lived.